[Clarkus]

So after upgrading to the latest firmware, some of my files are inexplicably unable to be read.

All the metadata is fine, unicode, no crazy characters, id3v2... I can listen to the files via folder mode just fine, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the M0 can't read them as normal.

Even tried deleting them from the card, re-adding them, retagging.... nothing. Deleted an additional 3 gigs of space from the card, nothing. Can't figure it out.

 

[technobear]

So after upgrading to the latest firmware, some of my files are inexplicably unable to be read.

All the metadata is fine, unicode, no crazy characters, id3v2... I can listen to the files via folder mode just fine, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the M0 can't read them as normal.

Even tried deleting them from the card, re-adding them, retagging.... nothing. Deleted an additional 3 gigs of space from the card, nothing. Can't figure it out.

Did you update the library? (You don't mention it)

You could try: take out card, update library, insert card, update library

 

[Clarkus]

Did you update the library? (You don't mention it)

You could try: take out card, update library, insert card, update library

Yes, I updated library, took card out, checked all the metadata on a PC, put card back in and updated. No luck.

 

[technobear]

Yes, I updated library, took card out, checked all the metadata on a PC, put card back in and updated. No luck.

That's not what I suggested. Did you update the library while the card was NOT in the player?

 

[Clarkus]

That's not what I suggested. Did you update the library while the card was NOT in the player?

Oh. I mis-understood.

Okay, I'll give it a go.

 

[Clarkus]

Oh. I mis-understood.

Okay, I'll give it a go.

Can't update library without card inserted. (error message: Card not Found)

 

[henkka]

I've had the M0 since launch and recently grabbed the ES100 for the 2.5mm and because the clip case broke on my M0 after a few months of use.

I thought they would be amazing complements to each other, since the M0 can stream LDAC to the ES100, the ES100 has a clip about a billion times better than the M0 clip case, and the ES100 is also lighter and better balanced for hanging on a clip.

At this point, I much prefer the sound of the ES100 via LDAC than just the M0 by itself. It really comes doing to the bass slam, though. The M0 always felt a little bass light, and sometimes, when there is a bass slam, it didn't translate well. You did have great detail and separation, but the bass always felt much lighter than it should be. On the ES100, the bass is just right, everything else is very similar. It sounds more realistic with my gear (Willsound MK2 and ER4XR on 2.5mm cable). The next time I go in for a phone upgrade, if I get a phone with LDAC, I may end up ditching the M0. I could have never thought of that before getting the ES100, as the M0 is already much better sounding than my phone or PC.

That's interesting, thanks for letting me know! My brains and eardrums really depend on a daily bass dosage and it might be a problem if the DAP somehow flattens that experience. I'll start experimenting with the ES100.

My phone supports LDAC I think but then again, if and when it drains the battery any faster I'll still have to get a dedicated DAP.

Yeah man it's a black hole for your wallet. LOL The Fiio M5 looks interesting and while my interests are piqued I'm waiting for reviews. Even then, the M0 has been a monster even without an EQ (that is user adjustable), Audiobook support (which I don't use), and needing some buttons for skipping tracks.
If you are looking for something with 2.5mm but smaller check out the Hiby R3, I'm not happy with Hidizs and while the AP80 might be nice no 2.5mm balanced. All I can say is that while the change from 2.5 to 3.5mm isn't huge things just sound better, maybe it's placebo but hey if we can afford it...lol

Yeah that is one big black hole lol. I'm glad I'm not alone with these kinds of problems.

I'm going to wait for the M5 reviews too. The Hiby R3 looks good but it's a bit on the larger side and double the cost of the M0. The cost is hardly an issue though as I'm clearly very bad at this... budgeting and staying in a budget when I actually don't have the extra $$. My original budget was around 100 usd and that was supposed to cover the cost of my new iems. Then the usual happened, "if I put only 50 extra I'll get that and only 70 top of that to get this". And that's how I eventually will end up with a DAP like the Sony NW-WM1Z.

 

[Shanling]

So after upgrading to the latest firmware, some of my files are inexplicably unable to be read.

All the metadata is fine, unicode, no crazy characters, id3v2... I can listen to the files via folder mode just fine, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the M0 can't read them as normal.

Even tried deleting them from the card, re-adding them, retagging.... nothing. Deleted an additional 3 gigs of space from the card, nothing. Can't figure it out.

Easiest thing would be to upload these files to google drive and send them to us to have check on them.

 

[technobear]

Can't update library without card inserted. (error message: Card not Found)

Ah, yes. Sorry. Getting confused as I also have a Plenue D which does allow this.

The only way to clear the database on M0 is to insert a spare empty card.

 

[TLDRonin]

M0 custom firmware (V2.4 based): link

Anyone have any details about this firmware? How is it compared to the standard 2.4 version?

 

[fingertrouble]

As I said, recently all devices have been disappearing (not just the Phillips) and when it's like that, you can't see ANY device - not just the Phillips, and Search button does nothing until you restart (long press) or hard reset. That doesn't happen with FW 2.1 - but I get occasional play freezes on that FW (it's playing, and screen won't wake/respond and you have to restart it with a long dial press, or sudden stopping of play...which when it's working doesn't seem to do that on later FWs - those issues seem to be fixed, hence why it's annoying that I get BT issues on later FWs)

An update although you didn't respond - I tried it with my Bluetooth Earbuds (Skull Candy) and the same thing happens - it sometimes doesn't see them, when it does and is paired, you click and it won't connect even when nothing else is connected and they are right next to them. And sometimes it finds NO devices, even though several are on.

Also found that the thing where it doesn't play at all - in BT it's connected but no sound, also happens when I use the headphone socket sometimes (annoyingly had to carry a 3.5mm cable because of this, otherwise I can't use my headphones with the m0).

You press play on a track and it stays at 0:00 - checked the card, opened a track via folder view etc and all that, but on 2.4 it rarely even connects now (so don't think it's the card), whereas previously on FW 2.1/2.2 or before it sometimes did this but a reset/restart would usually solve it, and eventually would connect and play. Been using it for nearly a year, so this isn't a regular thing.

Something is definitely screwy either with the device or the FW.

 

[TSch]

Anyone have any details about this firmware? How is it compared to the standard 2.4 version?

If you uncompress it, it says in a readme file:

Shanling M0 custom firmware v2.4 by Vortex & aleXmod

- Highly optimized graphics, font and binaries for maximum speed;
- English and Russian language strings was corrected/added;​

If you further uncompress its contents and compare it to the original v2.4, you can see that it contains

1. the same kernel
2. the same recovery kernel
3. A different ubifs filesystem image

Comparing the ubifs filesystems, you can see that the custom one contains:

1. a stripped libpthread.so library
2. a different "shangling-play" binary
3. smaller kernel modules (dwc2, g_audio, g_mass_storage and usbdwc2), still not stripped
4. stripped libcrypto.so library file
5. stripped libssl.so library file
6. the resource files have been edited and a txt_ru.txt file created (it looks like it replaces...poland :-/)
7. the image files (png) are better compressed so smaller.
8. A Russian flag image has been added in all the styles
9. The 蓝牙删除.png file has been removed (looks like a dustbin image) in the black_2 style
10. the msyh.ttf font file has more glyphs inside

The msyh.ttf file is for Arial and the custom file contains an official Agfa Monotype version saying: "This extended version of Monotype's Arial contains glyphs for all code points within The Unicode Standard, Version 2.1.".

Looking into the shangling-play edits, they confirm that Russia has replaced Poland and that a string that was v2.4 is now 2.4VTX instead.
45590c45590
< 000b2150: 745f 7275 2e74 7874 0000 0000 0476 4100 t_ru.txt.....vA.
---
> 000b2150: 745f 706c 2e74 7874 0000 0000 0476 4100 t_pl.txt.....vA.
45868,45869c45868,45869
< 000b32b0: 2573 3a20 252e 3266 4700 0000 322e 3420 %s: %.2fG...2.4
< 000b32c0: 5654 5800 6c05 4600 8c05 4600 ac05 4600 VTX.l.F...F...F.
---
> 000b32b0: 2573 3a20 252e 3266 4700 0000 5632 2e34 %s: %.2fG...V2.4
> 000b32c0: 0000 0000 6c05 4600 8c05 4600 ac05 4600 ....l.F...F...F.

Overall, it looks ok. The "highly optimized" binaries are just here for few stripped libraries (so really nothing highly optimized here), smaller PNG files and a possibly better font file. Overall, nothing really important (you won't feel a difference) except if you are from Russia (or Poland).

 

[endgame4]

... Overall, nothing really important ...

Interesting dissection.

I wonder if someone with the ability to repack the firmware would be able to change the mount scripts in a way that puts the music database on the sd card. It is one of the sillier choices in my opinion to put this database on the internal storage and not with the music it belongs to.

When you change cards, you always have to rebuild the database as the one on the internal storage is then pointless.

 

[Shanling]

Anyone have any details about this firmware? How is it compared to the standard 2.4 version?

One note, not sure if it was changed in latest version of this alternative firmware, but previous version changed fonts, allowing Russian, but breaking most of Asian languages.

Something is definitely screwy either with the device or the FW.

Will check for more reports of such problems with latest firmware.

 

[CJMike]

So after upgrading to the latest firmware, some of my files are inexplicably unable to be read.

All the metadata is fine, unicode, no crazy characters, id3v2... I can listen to the files via folder mode just fine, but I can't for the life of me figure out why the M0 can't read them as normal.

Even tried deleting them from the card, re-adding them, retagging.... nothing. Deleted an additional 3 gigs of space from the card, nothing. Can't figure it out.

@Shanling, I believe I have noticed similar issues with FW V2.4, some part of the V2.4 FW code has been changed incorrectly.
I updated from V2.0, in V2.4 special characters in any part of the album/artist/song names cannot be read, characters like apostrophe ', divide ÷, etc, hence songs that has any special characters in it's directory path causes some kind of error, while V2.0 had no problems reading and displaying these characters.

The other issue I found with V2.4 is reguarding:
"3. Fixed problem with file order in user created playlists. Now they will be correctly sorted by the order they were added."
I have found that the playlist is correctly sorted in the order added ONLY in the M0 internal user created playlist section.
But the user added playlist(.m3u files) that is in the FOLDER section is still sorted alphabetically.

Please kindly look input these two small issue, thank you!

Other than these small niggles, I love the M0..